A woman from Somerset has urged the public to be careful when letting their dogs swim in rivers after she nearly lost her dog to toxic blue-green algae poisoning.

Eletishia, from Milborne, says she decided to take her five-year-old bulldog staffy, Bentley, to the River Yeo near Sherborne so that he could cool off after all of this hot weather.

Blue-green algae has been thriving and multiplying during this heatwave and can be found in lakes, rivers and ponds during the summer months. Not all blue-green algae is toxic, however some can produce nerve or liver toxins.

It damages the kidney and can be fatal for dogs and damaging to humans.

Bentley will now have to wait three to six months to fully recover due to the blue-green algae, which caused him serious kidney damage.

Bentley, 5, before he went to see the vets

Eletishia said: "I never take my dogs to the rivers as I had heard bad things, but it was so hot I thought I'd take Bentley to my closest.

"Everything was fine; Bentley doesn't usually like to go in the water but he saw lots of other dogs playing in there, so I think he just wanted to join them.

"He wasn't in there for long. I took him home and everything seemed normal.

"It wasn't until I realised that he wasn't wanting his food that something wasn't right - Bentley is never off his food!

"I thought that he had probably given himself heatstroke, so I waited for five days to see if he would improve. He was still eating his treats, but something clearly wasn't right.

Bentley rolling around in the grass

"I took him into the vets where he got sedated - they took some blood tests but they weren't too worried at the time.

"After many trips to and from the vets, they have recently informed me that it was blue-green algae poisoning.

"We're still waiting to hear back the full results, but he's now on antibiotics to try and get his kidneys back together.

Read More

"I just wanted to get it out there - to make sure people understand. He never goes into the water and wasn't even in there for long.

"I would just hate for any dog to die because of this."

Blue-Green Algae (Image: Getty)

SomersetLive spoke to the Environmental Agency, who said: "We haven’t received reports of blue green algae on the River Yeo near Sherborne.

"That said, the recent hot weather has created favourable conditions for algal blooms and there might be blue green algae on the stretch of the Yeo the dog owner has referred to.

"Environment Agency officers attending incidents such as fish kills would routinely check for potentially harmful algae and might take samples during monitoring work.

"Anyone suspecting the presence of blue green algae is welcome to submit photos of the algae to the EA for identification. Some brightly coloured algae are harmless and can be mistaken for blue green species.

"Where blue green algae is present, the EA will notify the landowner and local authority so that signs can be put up warning people to avoid coming into contact with the algae and not to allow their dogs to enter the water."